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This odd plant would seem a seasonally apropos topic, although seeking strange plants wasn't my number one priority today. Nope, birds were the target today - it was the running of the re-scheduled Beaver Christmas Bird Count, and I went down to the hill country to cover my favorite CBC area. I've been doing the same Jackson County patch since the inception of this count, in the early 1990's, I believe. My turf contains a real diversity of habitats, and is very rural. It's great to be able to stop nearly anywhere, as traffic is nearly non-existent. Today, Blue Jays, which are truly a botanical bird, ruled. They were everywhere; the Numero Uno species. This abundance of Bluish Screamers undoubtedly speaks to the lush acorn crop, and the woods in my area are mostly upland oak-hickory that produced plenty of Blue Jay bounty. There were other goodies, too, chief among them a Wilson's Snipe in a wet pasture that often has them if conditions have been mild enough. Also ha…

Last Saturday was the Wooster Christmas Bird Count, organized by Roger Troutman. He's been at it a while, like 50 years or so. It's an interesting count circle, containing Killbuck and Funk Bottoms wildlife areas among other good bird-seeking spots. My area included what is easily the most interesting botanical feature in the count circle, but hey, this isn't the Christmas Plant Count. Nonetheless, I made a point of walking through the swamp woods that buffer Brown's Lake Bog, and on into the bog. As any seasoned birder knows, you'll find more birds when you are out and about on foot, when all of your senses can come into play. In fact, just south of the bog, we were walking McFadden Road when I heard approaching geese. In addition to the Canadas, the high-pitched tinny calls of Cackling Geese rose from the pack, and moments later three of these pint-sized honkers passed over with a number of Canada Geese. They really sound different, and we would have never found t…

This was THE YEAR for Northern Saw-whet Owls. Fall 2007 saw unprecendented numbers of the tiny hooters moving south, no doubt because favored prey such as Red-backed Voles had crashed in the north woods. Probably somewhere on the order of 200 were reported from Ohio between mid-October and now, which surely crushes any existing previous tallies. Much of the total is attributable to two banding stations, one in Chillicothe and Tom Bartlett's efforts on Kelleys Island.

Bruce Peterjohn, in his book The Birds of Ohio (2001) states "Their fall migration has never been well defined in Ohio". Probably true at the time Bruce penned those words, but it shows how fast our knowledge of a species can evolve. Almost entirely because of banding studies, we are learning much more of the southward movements of these furtive hooters.

But, surprises always await, and Laurie Boylan sent along a neat one recently. Her friend Audrey Dragony was exiting the Diamond Building in downtown Clevelan…

Most people think of hummingbirds while sharing thoughts of warm weather and abundant flowering plants. After all, hummers are truly botanical birds, thriving on nectar. The amazing eons-long process of evolution has sculpted the bills of hummingbirds into amazing appendages, aptly suited for reaching into all manner of flowers and extracting the goods. There is also a frequent misconception that hummingbirds are rather wimpy and certainly not cold-tolerant. That's not true, at least in many cases. I think this is in part because they are so small, and to many of our minds, cute. So, something so small and cute can't possibly endure the rigors of an Ohio - or Wisconsin (think Green-breasted Mango) winter. But they can, and do. As for wimpy, well, if most hummingbirds were the size of swans, we'd all be dead. They'd impale us on those spike-like bills and cast us aside if we horned in on their action. Just watch some hummingbirds around a feeder, and how they deal with e…

Josh Dyer, a naturalist with the Crawford County Park District, saw my recent post about Cathy Herm's Pine Warbler in Wooster, and sent along one of his own. Josh reports that it has been hitting the feeders at the Lowe-Volk Park Nature Center since November 30th. Tough Crawford County Pine Warbler. Probably not too many winter records of this species from the county that brought us the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival. Maybe none, for that matter. In fact, I wonder why it would show up there as a winterer, when the closest place that they breed is probably Mohican State Forest, which probably does have occasional wintering Pine Warblers. But, there's plenty of big pines and hemlocks at Mohican, which is your best bet for finding them, even in winter. Crawford County is distinctly un-Mohican-like in regards to habitat. But, it looks like the blurry green in the background of Josh's photo could be the boughs of white pine, so maybe there's some nice conifers at this park that …

Over on the OOS website, Mike Busam has posted some interesting compilations from Roger Troutman's epic tome documenting Ohio's history of the venerable Christmas Bird Counts. Check it out right here. You'll learn fascinating tidbits such as Downy Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal are the all-time leading native species found on Ohio counts, and that the 1956 Buckeye Lake CBC set the record of 96 species, which the Millersburg count tied much later, in 1995. It'll be a hard record to beat, but there are some other contenders. For instance, the Toledo CBC - which always stands out in my mind due to the amazing 112 Eastern Screech-Owls they tallied in 1981 - had 90 species last year.

Speaking of that 1956 Buckeye Lake CBC, the legendary Milton Trautman ws no doubt a participant. And Milt's name is on the list of the 78 people that have participated in at least 50 counts. I really thank Roger for assembling that, and Mike posted it on the website. Mainly because looking…

When it comes to warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warbler is the indisputed cold weather champ of the bunch. Most of the warblers that breed or pass through Ohio are long gone, basking in the warm tropical climes of places like Costa Rica, Honduras, even Venezuela. Not so the "butter-butts", which routinely overwinter here, becoming largely frugivorous and eating such botanical delicacies as poison ivy berries. A close second is the Pine Warbler in terms of hardiness. At least some no doubt winter in Ohio every year, but when they are out in the woods in places like Shawnee Forest, no one is likely to detect them. However, Pine Warblers do have a penchant for visiting feeders, and then become plain as day. Cathy Herms wrote me about a Dendroica pinus that is frequenting her suet feeder in Wooster (county seat of Wayne County). Linda Stoller snapped the followong photos and was good enough to let me put them up. Pine Warblers also eat seed. I remember being at a B & B in Tenness…

An interesting study that evaluates the role that Federal Wildlife Refuges play in local economies was recently released, and provides much ammo for justifying land protection on a level that doesn't get the scrutiny it merits. The report, entitled Banking on Nature 2006: The Economic Benefits to Local Communities of National Wildlife Refuge Visitation, can be found it its entirety here.

Ohio's own Ottawa NWR tallied about 177,000 visitors in 2006, and they collectively pumped about $3.5 million into the local economy. At Ottawa, it's estimated that about $21 was produced in terms of of local economic input, for every $1 spent on the refuge by the Federales. This is an aspect of land protection that I don't think gets the due it deserves. We should take a longer view regarding large-scale land protection, and recognize that it benefits not only plant and animal populations, but humans as well. Also of interest is the conclusion that, at Ottawa, around $3.2 million was b…

For me, one of the highlights of last weekend's Ohio Ornithological Society Bird Conservation Conference was the formal donation of ten thousand dollars to our partner the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Nobody does land conservation better than TNC, and no issue is more pressing than the need to protect land if we want to protect birds. It was a good feeling to know that, even with only 3 1/2 years under our belt, the members of the OOS could come together to raise enough money to provide this important match grant to TNC. The $10K is a necessary match for Clean Ohio money that enables TNC to buy a very significant 24-acre parcel adjoining the 14,000-acre Edge of Appalachia preserve in Adams County. Known as the Conrad tract, this 24 acres supports mixed mesophytic forest, upland oak-hickory associations, and exposed dolomitic limestone outcrops with rare White Cedar trees. A number of neotropical breeding birds nest here, and the acquisition of this property is another ke…

This weekend marked the Ohio Ornithological Society's first conservation conference focusing on the larger picture of protecting birds. We were fortunate to be able to partner with the Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy to make this event happen, and appreciate their support immensely. A big thank you to all who attended, and especially those that donated their time and talents to pull the conference together. I think that I can speak for many in the birding community when I say that there is a real need for birders to band together and support active conservation; i.e. land acquistion. The OOS and its members can help with that through outright donations to organizations that have a successful track record of owning and managing land, such as TNC. We can also, as a group, do our best to educate about the importance of conserving landscapes for birds, and why we need to do so. I think a bit of both were accomplished this weekend.

PHOTO WORKSHOPS 2018!!

In partnership with expert photographer Debbie DiCarlo (learn about her work HERE), I will be co-leading a series of one-day and multi-day photo workshops in 2018, all in Ohio, with the exception of fabulous excursions to Pennsylvania and Costa Rica. All skill levels are welcome - especially new to intermediate photographers. In addition to learning photographic techniques for various facets of natural history - birds, insects, other animals, plants, landscapes, night skies, and more - we'll learn LOTS about natural history. Each and every trip will offer many chances to see and photograph flora and fauna that most people don't get to see - or even know exists! The more one knows about nature, the better a nature photographer they'll become! Both Debbie and I love to work with people to help improve photography skills, and would welcome you to attend any of our workshops.

For an overview of all workshops, with thorough descriptions, CLICK HERE. Also, listed below is each DiCarlo/McCormac workshop, with a hotlink to a complete description and registration information:

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About Me

I am a lifelong Ohioan who has made a study of natural history since the age of eight or so - longer than I can remember! A fascination with birds has grown into an amazement with all of nature, and an insatiable curiosity to learn more. One of my major ambitions is to get more people interested in nature. The more of us who care, the more likely that our natural world will survive.

About the photos, and permission to use

All photographs (unless otherwise noted) on these web pages are the exclusive property of Jim McCormac, and are protected under United States and International copyright laws. The photographs may not be copied, reproduced, stored, distributed or manipulated without written permission. All rights are reserved.

All photographs are available for purchase. If interested in an image(s), please feel free to contact me at: jimmccormac35 AT gmail.com

If you contact me requesting free photos, the reply may be long in coming :-)

I've been taking photographs for a few decades, but never became fully engaged in photography until 2003. That's when I got my first digital camera. Since then, photography has become a passion and a steadily growing addiction. If you delve back far enough into this blog, you will see photos that were made with a variety of Panasonic point & shoot bridge cameras. Then came a Canon Rebel DSLR, followed by a Nikon D7000. I've since returned to Canon, and use their gear exclusively. My camera bodies are a Canon 5DS-R, 5D IV, and 7D II - all are awesome cameras, each with their primary use.

The lens bag includes a number of Canon lenses that collectively cover most bases, ranging from macro to super telephotos. I do lots of macro, and my typical flash gear is the Canon Twin-Lite setup, or sometimes a diffused Canon 600 speedlite. If the gear needs three-legged stabilization, it is mounted on either an Induro tripod, attached to an Induro Gimbal head, or a Gitzo 3542 tripod and Wimberly WH-200 head. Finally, I've got a GoPro Hero, which is fully waterproof and can be used for underwater work. Sometimes I even use the camera or video feature on my iPhone 7 smartphone - it's amazing how good phone cameras have become.